Police and soldiers investigate the blast at a bingo arcade in Cotabato City in the southern Philippines on Wednesday, March 4, 2009. The explosion left 3 people wounded, officials say. (Mindanao Examiner Photo / Mark Navales)KIDAPAWAN CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Mar. 4, 2009) – A homemade bomb explosion wounded three people on Wednesday in the southern Philippine city of Cotabato, police said.
Police said the bomb exploded at around 5.30 p.m. inside a small building where a bingo was being held. The bomb was believed planted on the restroom ceiling.
“We heard a loud explosion and we ran thinking there will be another blast,” an old woman told the Catholic radio station dxOL in Cotabato City.
One man said he hid behind a wall after the explosion for fear that another explosive explode. “I don’t know what to do. I just hid behind that wall after the blast. I have noticed that security was lax at the bingo house and I myself was able to enter without the guard the noticing,” he said.
On Tuesday, a homemade bomb also exploded inside a room of a budget motel in Cotabato City wounding two people.
Police investigators said they found fragments from an anti-tank rocket. Radio reports said the room where the explosion occurred was occupied by two soldiers, but they were away at the time of the blast. It said four rooms were damaged from the powerful explosion.
Cotabato City had been targeted in the past by terrorists and at one time was tagged as a doormat of terrorism in the southern Philippines by the US Embassy because of the presence of Filipino and foreign terrorists. (With a report from Geo Solmerano)
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